Legal mumbo jumbo is hard to grasp in any language. But when it's in Japanese translated poorly into English, overseas business opportunities are lost, lawsuits are filed and justice is not served.

But a government task force hopes to clear things up by December 2005. It has decided that Japanese laws should have official English translations.

The task force within the government's Office for Promotion of Justice System Reform will set up a commission in December to study which laws should be translated into English.

The end result won't just be a boon for foreign companies trying to do business in Japan. Japanese firms have also run into trouble in lawsuits overseas by unwittingly referring to mistranslations.

The commission recommended that the nation's fundamental laws, including the Civil and Criminal Codes, be rendered into English. It will also translate some laws into Chinese and Korean, sources said.

The business lobby Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), in particular, has championed calls for a uniform standard of English translation. The lack of such a tome, officials say, has hindered foreign investment in Japan.

Nippon Keidanren said that without unified rules Japanese companies also are more at risk of being sued from overseas.

In some cases, mistranslation had resulted in Japanese firms having major problems. In one instance, a company was involved in a case of professional negligence resulting in injury, but a Criminal Code translation proved to be a costly error. It wrongly suggested that negligence applies only for accidents during work hours. As a result, the court ruled accordingly, sources said.

Another factor concerns government efforts to support developing countries building up their legal systems.

Experts pointed out that a unified translation of Japanese legal terms would end legal wrangling over such obscure Japanese terms as ``being obliged to do something.'' In this situation, the working group proposed using ``shall ...'' for such situations: for example, ``The court shall ... transfer such and such a case to another court ... .''

The group also proposed using ``shall apply to ...'' when a certain law should be applied to certain cases: for example, ``The provisions of (the said) article ... shall apply to an offender who ... .'' These phrases are frequently used in law texts.

The paucity of reliable English translations and rules can result in Japanese companies overseas being forced to operate on foreign laws when signing contracts, officials said.

For example, because there is no unified foreign-language translation of Japan's Code of Civil Procedure, Japanese firms are often required to base contracts on foreign laws when the two sides end up in court.

The English translations will also address laws related to intellectual property right, the economy and administrative procedures.(IHT/Asahi: October 23,2004) (10/23)